On a writ petition an HC bench on November 30 ordered the government to submit progress reports on the investigations into the bomb attacks since August 17 to it every two weeks.

Accordingly, the government did submit two reports on December 13 and 27. But, the almost identical reports contain some statistics only. In no way they describe or facilitate getting a picture of the progress made in the probes.

The petitioner, Bangladesh Bar Council Human Rights Committee Chairman ZI Khan Panna, said they are considering taking legal steps against what he termed the incomplete reports.

"We'll ask the court to judge whether the reports are acceptable at all," he told The Daily Star last night.

The government had repeatedly claimed that it would be able to unveil the mystery of the countrywide bomb attacks, once it could arrest some top guns of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the banned Islamist outfit which claimed responsibility of the terror strikes. But, even after the arrests of two JMB Majlish-e-Sura members -- JMB chief Abdur Rahman's brother Ataur Rahman Sunny, military chief of JMB, and Rahman's son-in-law Abdul Awal -- and a number of regional commanders, it is yet to disclose anything to people.

PROGRESS REPORTS
The identical-twin reports prepared by the police headquarters consist solely of a table with a number of columns giving various statistics related to bomb attack cases in the four metropolises and the seven police ranges.

The column heads include number of cases filed in connection with bomb attacks, number of cases under investigation, number of charge-sheeted cases, number of under-trial cases and number of cases in which warrants of arrest and property attachment have been issued.

The other heads are number of cases in which final reports have been submitted, number of arrested and absconding accusees in the charge sheets, number of arrestees accused in FIRs and those arrested on suspicion, number of witnesses etc.

There is a column headed seized items, but nothing is mentioned in that in either of the reports. It is astonishing, as the law enforcement agencies so far have recovered a huge amount of fire arms, ammunitions, explosives, and bomb-making materials and equipment. Besides, they have seized a large number of books on jihad, and documents and CDs on JMB's covert operations, hit lists and future plans, busting many a den across the country.

The reports do not give any basic information like the identities and motives of the masterminds behind the attacks, how many of them have been arrested, their sources of fund and explosives, and their key and field-level operators. There is also nothing about the evidence the investigators have collected so far and the status of the investigations.

"The reports are not satisfactory at all. We expected to get details about the investigations and findings," said ZI Khan Panna.

He filed the public interest litigation to make sure that the home ministry remains accountable at least to the Supreme Court about its role in probing the terror attacks that shook the peoples of Bangladesh and other countries alike, he told The Daily Star.

"We expected that people's right to know what the investigations have found could be ensured through the court. But, they can't know anything from this kind of reports," he said, demanding publication of all probe reports on bomb attacks.

Khan Panna said the reports also did not mention the number of casualties, where the cases have been filed, identities of the arrestees and the accusees, who have been set free and why, and how many of the arrestees have confessed and what.

"What the government has submitted in the name of progress reports do not disclose any information about the progress of the investigations," Barrister Tanjib Ul Alam, an associate of Dr Kamal Hossain, who is moving for the petitioner, told The Daily Star.

"The information are vague and inconsistent. The reports cannot be described as documents submitted in compliance with the directive of the court. There should be definable features in a progress report, which the government reports entirely lack. It's a total frustration," he said.

Inspector General of Police Abdul Quayum could not be reached over phone yesterday despite repeated attempts to get his version.

But a well-placed police source said the court did not give any specific guidelines for the reports it ordered to submit. So, "We've prepared the reports with available information," he said.